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LUG if ~ * 
© Inanguration 
af 


John MM. G. Barns, B. 0. 


as 


Jaresident and Jrofessor of Missions 


Mission House College and Theulagical 
Seminary 


Plomouth, Wisconsin 


Immanuels Reformed Church 
Sune 10th, 1923 


WHY SHOULD 
Galo ANG VS SlONS 


BE INCLUDED IN THE CURRICULUM 
OF OUR EDUCATIONAL 
INSTITUTIONS ? 


Inaugural address of 


JOH NEVE GmDARMS .Dab: 

Professor of Missions at the Mission House College 
and Theological Seminary of the 
Reformed Church in the U.S. 
Plymouth, Wisconsin 
June 10th, 1923 


CENTRAL PUBLISHING HOUSE 
CLEVELAND, OHIO 


Copyright 1923 


- 


Published by the Board of the Mission House 


= 


‘aoe ie ‘rats te Ri or 


JOHN M. G. DARMS, D.D. Bradley Studios New York 


The Reverend John M. G. Darms, D.D. 


was born in the city of Philadelphia, Pa., July 24, 1873. He 
received his elementary education in the Schools of Phila- 
delphia. He was graduated from the College of the Mis- 
sion House in 1892 and from the Theological Seminary in 
1895. Having received a call as home missionary in Buf- 
falo, N. Y., he entered upon his work there July 23 of the 
Same year and organized the St. Paul’s Reformed Church. 
The following October he was ordained to the Christian 
ministry. The mission having become self-supporting in 
1904, increased steadily in membership and had grown to be 
one of the prominent congregations of West New York Clas- 
sis when Dr. Darms resigned in 1911 to accept a call from 
Emanuel’s Reformed Church of Rochester, N. Y. While 
there he was active in the organization of Dewey Ave. Re- 
formed Church. With the same zeal and devotion as in 
Buffalo, he ministered to the people of Emanuel, encour- 
aged by their hearty co-operation and the divine blessing 
which accompanied his efforts. In the fall of 1914 he ac- 
cepted a call from Salem Reformed Church, Allentown, Pa. 
His pastorate there extended from Dec. 10, 1914 to April 
30,1923. In May, 1915, the large and beautiful church build- 
ing was completed, the congregation, so well known in the 
church, grew in spirit, benevolence, Christian life and activ- 
ity. Salem now numbers 1725 members. The successful 
and beloved pastor of Salem not only took an active part in 
the advancement of Christian citizenship and the elevation 
of the moral tone of the community, but devoted time and 
energy to the general work of the Church and the kingdom 
of God. 


When the Board had to face the duty and responsibility 
of selecting candidates for the presidency of the Mission 
House, it was quite natural that the name of Dr. Darms as 
that of the man best equipped for the position should be 
mentioned. But should he be called away from a work in 
which he was so successfully engaged and from a service so 
dear to his heart? And would he accept a nomination? 


We believe that in answer to prayer for divine guidance 
3 


several members of the Board received the necessary cour- 
age and assurance for his nomination. And it was in an- 
swer to prayer for divine direction that Dr. Darms recog- 
nized in the call to the Mission House a call from the great 
head of the church. And when the Lord calls, His loyal 
disciple obeys trustingly, joyously, wholeheartedly, at what- 
ever cost. 

It is because of this loyalty to Christ his Lord, that the 
friends and alumni of the Mission House rejoice in the elec- 
tion and inauguration of the new President and look trust- 
ingly and enthusiastically toward a bright future for the 
institution. But the humble faith and loyalty of the new 
President should appeal strongly to all friends of the Mis- 
sion House to co-operate with him whole-heartedly and to 
support and cheer him with their confidence, their prayers 
and their means. 

Dr. Darms was honored with the title Doctor of Divinity 
by his Alma Mater, 1912. 

He has been very active in the general work of the Church, 
and has been entrusted with important positions on the sey- 
eral boards. 


He is at present and has been for several terms a mem- 

ber of 

1. The Board of Foreign Missions of the General Synod. 

2. The Missionary and Stewardship Committee of General 
Synod. 

3. Member of the Board of Christian Education of General 
Synod. 

4. Vice President of the Federation of Churches of America. 

5. Member of the National Service Commission. 

6. Member of the Life Service Commission of the Forward 
Movement. 


7. Member of the Committee of 15 of the Forward Move- 
ment. 


.Jlrogram.. 


Iu charge of the Reo. Lruest N. Loans 
Andianapolis, Ind. 
Jaresident of the SHid-West Sunod 


Organ Voluntary : ; é Prof. W. C. Zenk 
AIutoration 

Ayn. Come Thou Almighty King 

Scripture Lesson. |saiah 6 

Selectiot | Student Choir of the Mission House 


Adiress . . Rev. E. H. Wessler Cincinnati, O. 
President of Central Synod 


ices) ot) 2) Rev, WG. Weiss 
Vice President of the Synod of the East 


Uo of Office of the President and Professor elect 
Administered in the name of the proprietary 


synods by the Rev. Pau] Traeger 
President of the Synod of the Northwest 


Hymn “Wach auf, du Geist der ersten Zeugen”’ 


Suaugural : The President and Professor elect, 
Rev. John M. G. Darms, D.D. 


oc s0e arr eee wer Rev, B45.Stern, DD, 
Avmn “Ich habe nun den Grund gefunden”’ 
enediction 

Plostlude : : Prof. W. C. Zenk 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


Dr. DARMS has done Post Graduate work at 
Columbia University, New York City. 


Course on Missions at the Union Theological Seminary 
under Prof. Dr. Daniel J. Fleming. 

The Boards and the Faculty of the Mission House welcome Dr. 
Darms most heartily as President and Professor of Missions, 
pledge him their confidence, co-operation and support in the dis- 
charge of his duties, and commend him to the whole-hearted con- 
fidence, prayers and financial and spiritual support of the church 
in his efforts and enterprises for the advancement of Christian ed- 
ucation in the Mission House, the furtherance of the Kingdom of 
God in our beloved church and land, and in all the world, the glory 
of God the Father and of our Lord Jesus Christ and the salvation 
of souls. 

By order of the Board of Managers, 


The Acting President, 
A. E. DAHLMAN, D.D. 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


WHY SHOULD “CHRISTIAN MISSIONS” BE IN- 
CLUDED IN THE CURRICULUM OF OUR 
EDUCATIONAL INSTITUTIONS? 


To the Hon. Members of the Board of Visitors, 
Faculty, Student body, and Friends 
of Missions. 

REV. FATHERS, BRETHREN AND CHRISTIAN FRIENDS: 


G#sHE valedictory of our Lord and Saviour Jesus 
Christ, Whom we love with our whole heart 
“ee and Whom we would serve with our whole 
life, Whose call we hear and heed today, constitutes 
the introductory word of our inaugural address: All 
power is given unto me in heaven and in earth. Go 
ye therefore, and teach all nations, baptizing them 
in the name of the Father, and of the Son, and of 
the Holy Ghost: Teaching them to observe all things 
whatsoever I have commanded you: and lo, I am 
with you alway, even unto the end of the world. 
Amen. St. Matthew 28: 20. 

Had that dynamic word, which has marshalled 
the forces of Christian missionaries and workers in 
all the ages, and inspired and shaped every success- 
ful program of Christian missionary activity in the 
world, remained unspoken, we still would have the 
words of Jesus and his life, which was wholly mis- 
sionary, to interpret to us the purpose of God con- 
cerning the human race, we still would feel within 
us the urge to whole-hearted missionary endeavor. 
But since that word has been spoken and that com- 
mand and commission has been given, we would do 

3 7 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


violence to our best instinct and conception of Chris- 
tian duty, if we did not take it seriously and give 
our best thought and effort to actualize it. Our 
friendship and loyalty to Jesus are proven in our 
obedience to His command for John 15: 14 he lays 
down the principle: ‘“‘Ye are my friends, if ye do 
whatsoever I have commanded you.” Missionary 
thought, missionary effort, missionary work are the 
test of true discipleship. Every disciple of Jesus 
must have a missionary mood; a disposition, an in- 
clination, a liking, a desire, a passion to give to the 
abundant spiritual life, which the spirit of God has 
wrought within him, a truly missionary expres- 
sion. The spiritual life will cease to flow, Chris- 
tianity will cease to function, and the Christian 
Church will shrivel and die the day “Missions” is 
dropped from the program and the Christian people 
cease to share the Gospel and the abundant life, 
created through it, with all the world. The day is 
not yet come, when we can say with any degree of 
truthfulness, that this is fully accomplished. The 
evangelization of the world has just begun; the 
power of the Gospel is just beginning to be under- 
stood and applied; Christian people are just begin- 
ning to awake and to appreciate the glorious oppor- 
tunity that is theirs in making the Gospel effective 
in every reach and relationship of life and the world 
is Just beginning to open its mind and heart to the 
holy Saviour of mankind, the Prophet of Galilee, the 
Highpriest of Calvary and the King of Love and 
Truth. And this is the work of Missions, to propa- 
gate and consummate this. 
8 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


Why then should not our educational institu- 
tions, which are the very source of vocational and 
professional life, the very moulders of Christian 
citizenship and character, the very leaders in 
thought and activities, give to the study and under- 
standing and knowledge of ‘Missions’? whole-heart- 
ed attention and through their ever widening influ- 
ence permeate the philosophy and psychology of the 
world with intelligent thought and understanding of 
Missions, as the way through which a loving God is 
working out his purpose in this world, which is His 
world, which He has never transferred and from 
which He has never withdrawn Himself. He loves 
this old world still for His is an everlasting love. 
Jena): -3. 

Our question then is pertinent: 

If everything else that makes for scholarship 
and service, for the enlargement and betterment of 
life, for the application of the forces and faculties of 
men and for the enlightenment and uplift of the 
world, is given a place in the curriculum of our edu- 
cational institutions, is there any valid reason why a 
prominent place should not be given to the study of 
Missions 2? 

There are abundant reasons why this should 
be done: 

ib 


It gives to the curriculum itself an increment of life. 


The curriculum, when properly constituted, 
always reflects and begets life. There must be 
nothing static and dead about it; it is in constant 

9 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


flux, reflecting the growing mind and growing life 
of those, who are to have guidance through it. These 
are great days for educators. They ditfer more 
widely than do the theologians and politicians in 
many vital matters but the foremost and progres- 
sive educators are agreed as to this, that the chief 
business of the educator at present is the making of 
a proper curriculum. Some of the old school, who 
still believe in the eatrinsic method, where every- 
thing is prepared and poured into from without, a 
fixed schedule of study, of subjects, of time in which 
to learn it; everything selected by the experts or 
committees, who are not in touch with the growing 
life of the pupil or with his needs in life, determin- 
ing for the pupil what is best, because it has been 
thought the best for many decades and because 
change is always revolutionary and an impious dis- 
regard of the “proven and tried,” with mind-set 
merely to cover a certain proscribed course and anx- 
ious to reach a certain standard, some of these edu- 
cators may object to the addition of another subject, 
saying: “Our students are already crowded to the 
limit, their schedule is full and they have all that 
they need, and the young minds should not be neec- 
lessly burdened.” But surely, everyone who has any 
knowledge of “Missions,” knows that it is not an en- 
cumbrance, an accumulation of unrelated facts, a 
dead weight, but that it is the recording of a succes- 
sive number of present day experiences of men and 
women at home and in all parts of the world, a verit- 
able flow of growing life; experiences, which paral- 
lel the experiences of both teachers and students, as 
10 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


they come in personal contact with Christ and with 
the Gospel; experiences, which will be of immeasur- 
able help to them in the growth of their own spirit- 
ual and intellectual life. Instead of dulling the 
mind of the student and making him less capable of 
mastering the sciences and philosophy and lan- 
guages, they will find that Missions thrills the mind 
of the student, as he lifts his head from the desk and 
looks out upon the world opening before him and the 
Christ and the Word of God gripping the peoples’ 
hearts and transforming their lives, their social and 
industrial conditions, their home life, their com- 
munity life, their national life. He can see a new 
world rising about him out of all the adjustments, 
which Christian thought and Christian truths in- 
spire. He sees a new China, a new Japan, a new 
India, a new Africa with changed racial and moral 
conditions and he says to himself: “Something like 
that ought to happen within me; I too should have 
an awakening, a reconstruction, a re-creation 
through Christ. If it does that for these people, it 
can do the same for me.” And immediately Missions 
becomes a matter of Life to him and fits beautifully 
into any curriculum from the intrinsic standpoint, 
for it enlivens the whole process of thinking, gives 
him new interest and leads him to new effort and en- 
larges his thought-world, polarizes his energies and 
connects up his inner world, the microcosm with the 
outer world, the macrocosm and gives to both the 
Same vitalizing power, the spiritual power that is 
generated through personal contact with Jesus 
Christ. Thus the curriculum is given a new incre- 
11 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 
ment of life and the student is given a new interest 
in life. 

ti 


Missions adds valuable Subject Matter to the course 
of study and to the thought-world of the student. 


1. The Bible is the real text-book of Missions. 
One can not study Missions without studying the 
Bible, for Missions is the outflowing love and life of 
God through Jesus Christ and the living Word, 
there must be found in the Bible the Plan and Pro- 
gram of Missions. 

The Bible itself is a product of the Holy Spirit 
as the Holy Spirit laid hold upon the lives of the in- 
spired writers and gave to them an experience of 
God. These holy men wrote out of that experience 
of God. They were not thoughtless, lifeless auto- 
matons, who knew nothing and felt nothing and ex- 
perienced nothing of what they wrote or said or did. 
One instinctively feels: Here are men, who knew 
God, who believed in Him with all their heart, who 
like Enoch walked with Him and like Moses, talked 
with Him; who trusted Him, like Daniel; who lived 
in Christ, like Paul: who loved Him like John. 1 
never like to hear anyone refer to the Bible as a pic- 
ture gallery. Nothing is more like a tomb than a 
picture gallery, dead men all, with the spirit of life 
gone out of every one of them. There is indeed 
something fascinating about tombs and there is a 
revival of interest in ancient Egyptian history and 
art through the discovery of the tomb of Tut-tank- 
amen at Luxor, but would anyone say that from it 

12 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


there comes the power of life as from one of our uni- 
versities, manned by thinking men? Pictures — 
dead Photographs — is that all the Holy Scriptures 
present, all that we have of these saints of God and 
of our holy Christ? Ah, friends, as we study our 
Bible and see the spirit of God living in these per- 
sonalities, every one of them steps out of that dead 
frame and stands before us a living personality and 
“though he be dead, yet speaketh.” Especially is 
this true of the everlasting, everliving Christ. 

2. And what subject matter does Missions pre- 
sent? Look where you will in the field of missions 
at home or abroad, here are live men, the mission- 
aries talking with live people on live subjects and 
seeking to transform and enrich their life. Life, 
Life, Life — everywhere. And when you think of 
Livingstone in Africa, Carey in India, Taylor in 
China, Schneder in Japan, Hoy in Hunan — and fol- 
low them in their work, what kind of subject matter 
do they represent? Every one of these champions 
of God present the Lord Jesus Christ as the Saviour 
of mankind, and would lead the world to the foot of 
His Cross. 

Does this not present to the students a subject 
matter most nearly ideal, because it enriches their 
humanity by challenging their sympathies and 
bringing them in living relation with men and 
minds, who are undergoing the same transformation 
and having the same experience of God which they 
have or would like to have? Does the subject. of 
missions deaden thought or enliven it? Does it lead 
to the cemetery, where lie buried the immortals of 

13 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


the race or out into the highway of life, into an as- 
sociation with the keenest, brightest minds and the 
most active and productive workers of this day? 
Surely, the subject-matter, which “Missions” pre- 
sents, is truly invaluable to any thinking mind. 


vi B 


“Missions” fit into the curriculum because the 
study of Missions has a rich contribution to give to 
the cause of 

Education 
itself. 

What is education? Is it an accumulation of 
knowledge, of figures or facts or an aggregate of 
various skills and accomplishments? Is not educa- 
tion rather a growing life leading to larger growth? 
Is not education ‘activity leading to more activity?” 
Does not education set one’s aims in life by making 
every effort an aim and through purposeful activity 
lead up to accomplishments, a series of accomplish- 
ments, which challenge every talent, every ability a 
man or a mind may have, testing out one’s powers 
as in a testing laboratory? 

And is not the Work of Missions, which is noth- 
ing else but “Christianity in action,” like a labora- 
tory, where men and women, in every phase of the 
work, are applying and trying out in local experi- 
ments and adjustments the principles of the Gospel, 
the teachings of Jesus? Is that not the task, the 
conflict, the criterion of Missions, whether Chris- 
tianity can meet the needs of the Chinese, the Jap- 
anese, the Indians, the American communities and 

14 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 
enlarge and direct the life of the individuals every- 
where? Are ‘‘Missions” merely an accommodation, 
an appendix, an addition to what you find on the 
ground where you are working, whether it is in In- 
dia among the Hindus or in Africa among the Mos- 
lems or do they create a new life, a new society from 
the ground up? And if so, what is needed? Is 
there anything more we can give to the Chinese, the 
South Americans, the people of India, of Japan, of 
Africa, than the Holy Bible, the Bible message and 
spirit and the Bible life? Do we really need to give 
them anything more than this? Do we not bring to 
them the fulness of the Gospel and the fulness of the 
Christ who lived his holy life an example to and died 
a holy death, a sacrifice for us all? Do not all of 
these people need the Christ of the Bible, the Divine 
Saviour, as their one and only and _ all-sufficient 
Saviour? And must we not show them the Way of 
Life, how they may find and follow this Christ as 
the Lamb of God, that taketh away the sin of the 
world and conform their lives more and more unto 
His? Do we not need schools and hospitals and 
social workers and linguists to translate the Bible 
into the vernacular, literary geniuses to write devo- 
tional literature for evangelistic work? Do we not 
need skilled mechanics to teach them to construct 
houses—foresters like Don Griffith to teach them 
how to re-forest their denuded lands and thus avoid 
famines and floods; agriculturists like Higginbottom 
who can teach the people of India how to raise ten 
times more wheat on a given plot than the native 
farmers; skilled engineers and economists and edu- 

LD 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


cators to help them work out this great Gospel pro- 
gram that reforms and forms every phase of their 
domestic, industrial, social, civic, intellectual and 
spiritual life? 

And does not the Study of Missions in an educa- 
tional institution, by way of the project method of 
teaching, harness up every branch of study, all the 
sciences and all the scholarship with the Missionary 
Work and offer a place of service for every skill and 
every ability of the students? Is there anything in 
the educational process of our institutions that can 
not be used in Missionary work somewhere? Does 
not the study of Missions stimulate scholarship and 
study all along the line? Does it not prove that 
science can serve the spread of the Gospel in many 
ways? Does it not give to education a broader vista, 
a nobler aim and lead to purposeful activity? Does 
it not prove that education is a give-and-take pro- 
position and organize the whole world of skill and 
thought and talent around Jesus Christ? Does not 
“Missions” help the lives of the natives to grow out 
of superstition into enlightenment, out of hate into 
love, out of lethargy into activities, out of ignorance 
into knowledge, out of scepticism imto faith, out of 
sin into grace, out of Mohammed and Confucius 
into Christ? And having the study of Missions 1n 
the curriculum does it not give an incentive to edu- 
cation in every form and lead the student into 
growth of mind and spirit and soul? Sureiy, Mis- 
sions has a contribution to give to education that is 
truly worthwhile. 


16 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


IV. 


With the study of Missions in the curriculum, 
what does it do for the 


Teaching Force? 


No teacher, who holds membership in a faculty 
of an institution, in which Christian Missions have 
a place in the curriculum, could avoid laying greater 
emphasis upon the spiritual values of life and seek- 
ing in some way in all of his classes to correlate his 
work to that of the department of Missions and make 
his department create a spirit of interest in the Bible 
and in world problems and world affairs, as they 
constantly appear on the mission field and form a 
basis of discussion in the faculty and in the class 
room. It would give him a desire to know more 
about these conditions, which the missionary meets 
and to know more intimately these varied peoples 
and religions and customs. It might even help his 
devotional life, the cultivation of the Spirit of 
Prayer, develop an interest in the missionary work 
of the world and give him a richer, fuller humanity 
and sympathy with all the peoples of the world as he 
learns to know of their handicaps and hindrances 
and limitations and struggles for freedom and en- 
lightenment. There may be something in his de- 
partment which might be usable in a missionary 
service and he would seek to make a contribution to- 
ward the same. This is certainly true of the de- 
partments of science, languages, philosophy, psy- 
chology, economics, biology and ethnology, anthro- 
pology, ethics and many others. He would cer- 

17 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 
tainly set a high moral aim for all his work in 
order to nourish the finest spirit and develop the 
strongest morality in the lives of his pupils. He 
would certainly never use his department to break 
down the faith of any student in Jesus Christ as the 
Saviour of the world and the loving Father of all 
mankind. Possibly out of his department there will 
go forth a great missionary worker of the world, who 
somewhere out in India or China or Japan would 
put to use and meet the needs of those people with 
something he has been able to contribute to his edu- 
cation and his life. Here is a sphere, and these are 
days, where all things serve the Kingdom. 


V. 


With the study of Missions in the curriculum 
there will come to the student, a 


Great Incentive and Great Enrichment. 


A great incentive to know more about the condi- 
tions of hisown country, the people that live in it, the 
conditions under which they live, the foreigners, who 
are coming to our shores and man our industries, 
our mines, our railroads and thus make a new social 
problem. He would become interested in new 
communities where the home missionaries are es- 
tablishing their work; in the slums where the social 
workers are active; in the agricultural districts 
with their countless social and religious problems; 
in the cities where the cosmopolitan people congre- 
gate and preserve their unit sectors of a strange na- 
tionalism; in the immigrant, the mendicant, the pau- 

18 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


per; in the Negro, the Indian, the Japanese and Chi- 
nese on the Coast; in our neighbor, Mexico, South 
America, Alaska, all belonging to the Home Mission 
Field. He would study the races of the world, their 
religions, their philosophies, their psychology, their 
handicaps, their treasures. He would have a great- 
er desire to study the languages of other people that 
he might some day be able to serve them. He would 
take a greater interest in geography and the geogra- 
phical influences upon the races; in ethnology and 
the peculiarities of other people; in sociology and 
how he might contribute something to social better- 
ment: in economics and how he might help them to 
help themselves with the resources God has given 
them. He would try to relate his studies to some of 
these possible activities in the world. He would 
study the life of great missionaries and ask himself 
what made them so helpful and so serviceable to the 
world. Their heroism would inspire his, their faith 
kindle his faith, their rich humanity mould his and 
their love to Christ inspire a greater love to Christ 
in his life. Great Personalities are Great Teachers 
and the missionaries are great personalities in every 
respect for what makes a personality great is the 
spirit that lives in him and motivates his actions. 
The missionaries have this spirit of unselfishness 
and the compassion of Christ to help lift the world. 
The study of Missions may help them find their “life 
service.” It would help them link their lives to a 
great cause, that of religion, lead them into the 
Christian ministry, Social work or Missionary serv- 
ice of some kind. Schools which have Missions on 
19 


their curriculum would become tributaries to the 
ranks of Christian workers in the world and add ma- 
terially to the working forces in the Kingdom. Stu- 
dents in such educational institutions, where the 
study of Missions forms a part of the curriculum 
should lose their racial and denominational. preju- 
dices, become tolerant, open-minded and cultivate a 
spirit of good will toward mankind. They would 
develop a statesmanlike attitude not only toward the 
work of missions but toward all matters of moment 
in the world. Their prayer-life and devotional life 
would become intensified and the students would be- 
come more earnest in their lives. They would read 
extensively and acquaint themselves with the on- 
ward march of Christianity in the world. Surely 
they would learn to love Christ more dearly as they 
see the yearning of the world for what Christ and 
Christianity have to give, they would long to answer 
the Macedonian ery: ‘Come over and help us.” 
Thus they would enlarge and enrich their lives and 
take their place beside those who have gone out into 
the world to “burn out” for and to glorify the Christ. 


Vu 


And where the study of Missions forms a part 
of the curriculum 


The Educational Institutions 


would characterize themselves as Christian schools 

whose aim it is to develop the spiritual life of its 

students for Christian citizenship and service. They 

should develop a fine school spirit on higher levels 
20 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


than those who seek only to train the intellect or to 
develop mechanical skills or those whose chief pur- 
pose is only to perpetuate their own denomination 
or constituency. Through the human factor it 
would link them up with the educational institutions 
on the field and make them a model for the same, not 
only in scientific equipment and service, but in spir- 
itual work and leadership. They would become 
training stations for Christian workers. They 
should make an atmosphere of thought in which 
everything related to the kingdom of God could live 
and thrive. The denominational spirit in such a 
school and institution should be of the highest and 
richest quality and the Bible and Christian litera- 
ture should have a place of prominence. Mission- 
aries should be welcome here and find pleasure in 
spending their furlough in such an _ institution, 
where they can not only continue their studies but 
through information and personal contact with the 
students win some of these as Christian workers. 
Through the studies of foreign people, their reli- 
gions and customs they should invite into their fac- 
ulty scholars of highest repute and aim to develop 
such scholars for the missionary work of our own 
country and the world. Then too, they would be- 
come experimental stations to discuss, try out and 
work out new phases of missionary work. Through 
their work missionary pastors can be developed who 
in turn worked and can inspire and establish mis- 
sionary work in the churches and keep aglow the 
missionary spirit in the hearts of the people. Such 
a school will give to its students an interest in their 
21 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


denomination, their community, their country and 
in the world. 


VII. 


Where the study of Missions forms a part of 
the curriculum 
The Denomination 


itself, which maintains these schools will grow 
stronger in spirituality and develop a greater work- 
ing capacity for all phases of kingdom work. Cer- 
tainly there is great stimulus in partnership, in 
shared interests and when a denomination has de- 
veloped and is putting into actual working form a 
strong missionary program, that denomination is 
sharing with other branches of the Christian church 
a responsibility and a privilege in making the Gospei 
effective and contributing to the stream of workers, 
who through their message and their ministry, are 
earnestly seeking to interpret God’s purposes for the 
respective countries and races to these people and 
a privilege in being co-workers with Jesus Christ 
in bringing light and life to the backward people of 
the world. Such a denomination will seek more 
eagerly to learn the will of God and to do it in every 
other way than missionary duty and come into 
closer fellowship with Jesus Christ. 

It will concern itself more with spiritual mat- 
ters and less with the things that make for popu- 
larity and ecclesiastical prominence. It will devel- 
op the principles of Christian Stewardship among 
its people and seek to have them use their lives and 


possessions for the growth of the Kingdom. It will 
22 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


naturally develop a strong and deep devotional 
spirit, an appreciation of Jesus Christ and the abun- 
dant life that flows from Him into the heart and life 
of the believers. It will exalt the Cross of Christ 
and seek to make its own life sacrificial and service- 
able. It will “keep to the Bible” and take from it 
its authorization and guidance for conduct and life. 
Faith will be its dynamic and the social and spirit- 
ual regeneration of the world will be its goal. And 
with the community of interest in the missionary 
work of the world, which it has established, it wil! 
send its own people back into their own world with 
the heart-searching question: “What must I do to be 
saved?” And thus God may use it to be a mighty 
factor in the redemption and regeneration of the 
world. 


VET Ts 


And what a contribution such an educational 

institution will make to 
The Spread of Christianity 
in the world. 

To Christianity itself, for the study of the mis- 
sionary purpose of Christ and the Gospel, Chris- 
tianity itself will strike deeper roots in the hearts 
of those already Christian and inspire them to seek 
yet more earnestly the “deep things of God.” If 
Christianity is to serve the non-Christian people of 
the world and help them to find and to appropriate 
the abundant life in Jesus Christ, it will have to be- 
come more conscious of the presence and leadership 
of Jesus Christ and find in Him and in His glorious 

23 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


Gospel all those elements, that make for life and 
peace. It will have to practice Christianity in the 
homeland and make it function in government, busi- 
ness, industry and the home. It will need to deveiop 
a spirit of good will toward all the nations of the 
earth, give itself to the making and maintenance of 
peace. When it is smitten it must not smite again 
and when it conquers it must not enslave or humili- 
ate the conquered. Jf Christianity is to save abroad 
it must work at home. Said a Hindu to me a few 
weeks ago, when I asked him as to his religion: 
“T am a Hindu, but my religion does not satisfy me. 
At present I have nothing to base my religion upon 
and nothing to draw from.” I said to him: ‘‘Why 
don’t you give Christianity a chance and if you earn- 
estly do, you will find what your heart desires and 
craves for in Jesus Christ.” “Well,” said he, “I 
have been here in your country for a short while and 
I have observed you and your people closely. You 
call yourself a Christian nation but I have not seen 
Christianity function much. It does not seem to 
work with you, how can I know that it will work 
with me?” And was this not a challenge to more 
whole-hearted endeavor on our part to put Chris- 
tianity into our daily life and give to it its fullest 
expression right here at home? Is America Chris- 
tian? Is the American brand of Christianity the 
last word, the most ideal and fullest expression of 
Christianity? None of us would venture to say that 
it is. Who knows but that we will need to learn 
much from those who have not as yet accepted Christ 
but who, when they do, will give to Christianity a 
24 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


fuller, richer expression than we have ever given? 
There are wonderful heroes of the faith in India, in 
China and Japan. The finest appreciation of Christ 
as the Saviour and Lord, which we have heard ex- 
pressed in many a day, we recently heard from the 
lips of a Chinese Christian, who told us in a notable 
address how China loves Christ and is ‘accepting 
Him and His teachings for the basis of spiritual re- 
construction of the mighty empire.” Musi we learn 
from a Chinese convert that the world can not be 
saved by economics, by industry, by moral reform, 
by a social Gospel only, but by Jesus Christ as a per- 
sonal Saviour? “God,” said he, “will always find his 
way into our hearts through Jesus Christ.” May we 
not become castaways, whilst we are seeking to save 
others and win them to Christ. God has entrusted 
Christianity to us. It is our duty to make Chris- 
tianity available to all the world and every educa- 
tional institution must have and does have a part in 
this, in the measure in which it vitalizes its own life 
and sends out the light and life through Christian 
men and women, whom it has prepared for mission- 
ary work in the world and into the denomination 
which forms its constituency, giving counsel and 
guidance in all missionary matters. 
And that is what we all want to do, help 


IX. 
Make the World Christian. 


When the study of Missions forms a part of the 
curriculum, a world of people, a world of thought, 
the philosophy and psychology of these several na- 

25 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


tions, world problems are brought into that institu- 
tion and form a basis of research and discussion. 
How real acquaintance with peoples oftimes changes 
our attitude toward the same and gives us a sense of 
appreciation not only of the differences which divide 
us in thought, customs and religion but of the finest 
effort which many of their leaders are making to 
find the right relationship to God, the truth and the 
enlightenment in Him, and to lead their people to 
the highest mental and spiritual heights and to give 
the highest expression of morality compatible with 
their racial characteristics. We need to re-construct 
our estimate of the Hindus, when we learn that 
theirs is a religion of self abnegation and self efface- 
ment. Of course they go to extremes. They vir- 
tually have no use for life at all, it’s “something to 
to be gotten through with” until a higher form of 
being evolves. Karma is full of religious idealism 
for one whose mind is trained to think its thoughts 
and hold to its tenets. We need to appreciate what 
Confucius taught, although his was a negative mo- 
rality with little of religion in it and he himself 
failed in exercising it fully. Yet is not China better 
for the influence of Confucius than if it still only 
had Animism in its worst form? And did not Brah- 
manism help India first by ridding it of all other 
gods and religions, which were held in divisive lines 
through many centuries and center the mind of 
India upon one particular form of worship? You 
say that it bred castes, thousands of them, and yet 
has Christianity been able to avoid the forming of 
castes even in a democracy like ours? We have the 
26 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


low caste: the poor, the laborer, the “common 
herd,” the uncultured and ignorant and backwoods- 
man and mountaineer, etc. and the high caste, the 
rich, the cultured, intellectuals, society, the big 
fellows etc. And has not Christianity according to 
the reports of the best informed missionaries and 
students in India formed another caste — the 
“church” caste? That is how Indians view it any- 
way. And do not our schools and institutions show 
by study of comparative religions, how many of 
these religions emphasize treasurable truths and 
form an approach to God? Must we, when we go to 
do missionary work among them, utterly destroy all 
that they have? Would it not be duty for us to 
trace as far as we can the leading of God even in 
their religions and then show them the right God 
in Christ and lead them to the right faith and right 
way of living in and to the Cross of Jesus Christ? 
Is it not remarkable that with their limitations they 
have succeeded so well in forming and framing re- 
ligious and moral codes and developing a system of 
ethics that, when applied, will lift the people to 
higher levels? What if they had knowledge of the 
Bible, of Jesus Christ and the abundant life in Him 
these thousands of years as we have had Him? 
Would they still be so backward in their faith, in 
their religious and moral life, would they have failed 
to apply the content of their Christian faith to their 
social and industrial relations in the measure in 
which we have done? 

Somehow we have a conviction that when these 
people once accept the Gospel and come into posses- 

a} 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


sion of the Christ as the Son of God they will appre- 
ciate his Saviourhood more than we do and instead 
of passing by his Cross on Calvary with ‘wagging 
heads” as do many of us with a sense of self-sufii- 
ciency and self-consciousness, without any feeling of 
need of Him, as the Lamb of God, which taketh 
away the sin of the world, they will come and bow 
down and worship at the foot of the Cross of Christ 
with a heart longing for the help only He is abie to 
give and say in a very real sense: ‘““My Lord and my 
God.” 


».© 
The study of Christian Missions will create 
A better understanding of the whole world. 


From our Christian institutions which are 
studying Missions, the onward march of Christian- 
ity in the world and the impartation of the abun- 
dant life in Jesus Christ, there will go out a better 
understanding of the whole world, a deeper sympa- 
thy with other nations and put people in the honest 
effort they are making to solve their problems in an 
effective way and we will become tolerant and gen- 
erate a spirit of friendship towards them and thus 
be able to prove to them that in Christianity they 
can find the true religion and in Jesus Christ their 
all-sufficient Redeemer and Saviour. And any help 
given toward the making of such a spirit and a 
means of approach will be valuable for the mission- 
ary workers on the field who are living themselves 
lovingly into the lives of these people and say with 

28 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


the missionary in Constantinople after the Turkish 
outrages: “And still we must love the Mohamme- 
dans, they are worth loving, for Christ died for them 
and they belong to the great family of God.” 

Let us recapitulate then and say: ‘When the 
study of Christian Missions is introduced into the 
curriculum and intelligently presented and earnestly 
studied the cause of education, the work of the teach- 
er, the life of the student, the character of the school, 
the spirit of the Church, the life of Christianity and 
the advance of the world is materially helped and a 
contribution is given, which is truly re-creating the 
world and re-shaping the life and re-inspiring the 
soul of mankind. Through it all, Christ is made 
pre-eminent and humanity is truly brought to an ap- 
preciation of Jesus Christ and a knowledge of the 
One, true, eternal God. Teach Missions then, not 
for reasons of piety and self-perpetuation, but teach 
Missions for the purpose of learning and making 
known to others the real purpose of God with us all, 
the real appreciation of Jesus Christ, the son of God 
as the Divine Saviour of the world and the redemp- 
tion and uplift of humanity for the sake of the great- 
er glory of God, the salvation from sin, greater 
happiness and a richer intellect and an unfolding of 
all those noble qualities which Christ works in man 
and the impartation of all wisdom and knowl- 
edge, which we find in Jesus Christ. Teach Missions 
for the sake of self-enlargement, for the sake of hu- 
manity’s salvation and enrichment, for the world’s 
redemption from sin and real spiritualization, and 
teach Missions for Jesus’ Sake and in His Name. 

29 


Why should Christian Missions be included in the 


The world needs Christ and Christianity today 
more than ever and it is more true today than ever 
before: “Neither is there salvation in any other; for 
there is none other name under heaven given among 
men, whereby we must be saved,’ Acts 4: 12, “who 
hath saved us, and called us with an holy calling, 
not according to our works, but according to His 
own purpose and grace, which was given us in Christ 
Jesus before the world began, but is now made mani- 
fest by the appearing of our Saviour Jesus Christ, 
who hath abolished death, and hath brought life and 
immortality to light through THE GOSPEL.” 2 Tim. 
1: 9—10. 

The WorRK of Missions is not the work of man, but 
the work of God, who alone can save a world from 
sin and lift it to the highest mental and spiritual 
heights through JESUS CHRIST, yesterday, today 
and forever the same Lord of Light and Love, and 
being the work of God, no man can hinder it but all 
men should prosper it and make it THE real 
WORLD’S WORK. 

As Dr. Fleming has so strikingly said: “Do not 
go out into the work of Missions to do things, but to 
make lives grow.” Thus will we help the backward 
people of the world to find themselves and their des- 
tiny in Christ and “glorify our Father, which is in 
Heaven.” Matthew 5: 16. And that is the real 
heart of Christian Missions. 


Curriculum of our Educational Institutions 


WHILST LIVES ARE GROWING 


Whilst lives are growing, thoughts of Christ 
Should guide their mind and heart; 
Whilst lives are growing, love of Christ 
A purpose forms, the art 
Of knowing those, who know Him not 
Nor in His riches share: 
To meet their mind with Christian thought 


The love of God declare. 


The growing life, which thus expands 
Will richer, fuller be, 

Will consecrate its heart and hands 
To serve humanity. 

Then let us help young lives to grow 
And youth unfolding, prod: 

Give them the chance to see and know 


And link them up with God. ; 
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